Adjusting A Coin Mech

We know that many of you are hobbyist and are probably not too concerned about whether or not your coin mechs are working. If you’ve ever thought about owning your own arcade or starting your own route, however, this will be absolutely essential to your success. Here are some tips for adjusting a coin mech.

Adjusting A Coin Mech

You want to start off by first removing the coin mech from the arcade game. This is accomplished in a variety of ways depending on how the coin mech is positioned. For instance, a Ms. Pac Man cabinet has the front of the coin mech positioned opposite the door. There are two metal latches located at the top of the coin mech that you have to push down, pull the top of the coin mech towards you, then slide the bottom out of the holder.

Another common configuration is where the coin mech is positioned with the front facing the right. In this position, a metal bar typically holds the side of the coin mech with a clip at the bottom. Undo this clip and remove the metal bar holding in the coin mech. After removing the clip, you should be able to slide the side of the coin mech held by the bar to the right. Once this side is free, pull the other side out of the holder to successfully remove the coin mech.

Now that we have removed the coin mech from the arcade cabinet, we can move on to adjusting the coin mech. Most of the coin mechs that you encounter are going to be configured for quarters (25 cents). Find the screw located at the top of the mech that controls the tension of the coin mech on the coin. Tighten this screw all the way down by turning it to the LEFT. Then, place a quarter in the coin slot at the top of the mech, the quarter should get stuck. Now, slowly turn the tension screw to the right until the quarter falls through. Give the screw an extra 1/2 turn to the right to make sure that it will fall through smoothly in the future.

Once you have adjusted your coin mech, place it back in the arcade cabinet in a similar manner as you removed it. Now, test it with a quarter and see if it works. If it does, you’re good to go.

There are several other types of coin mechs that you might encounter as well. Another common type is a double or dual coin mech. These are usually signified on the cradle of the coin mech with the letter D. These coin mechs can take quarters or 0.984″ tokens which are the most common token size.

Our favorite coin mechs are made by a company called Imonex®. These coin mechs are extremely fast, extremely accurate, and hardly ever jam. They do cost more than a standard coin mech but they will save you a lot of time in the long run. Imonex® coin mechs are available from Happ Controls.

Knowing how to adjust a coin mech will get you well on your way towards owning your own arcade or route location. Coin mechs, when adjusted properly, will make sure that you don’t miss out on a sale just because someone couldn’t put a quarter in.

Hi! Could you please tell me how to construct a arcade machine using a computer tower and other necessary gadgets such as coinslots to work as one coin equals one credit, especially with the controls as up should function as up, down as down and so forth. Help would be much appreciated.

This is definitely something that we’re looking at doing in the future. Before we take on that project, however, we want to make sure that people have firm grasp on the basics of arcade repair. It’s good to know how an arcade game works with a board before moving on to using a computer.

Please watch for this topic in future posts and thank you for your interest in our site.

DaveAugust 1, 2009

Hi, I just purchased a brand new HAPP coin door. It came with 2 Asahi coin mechs that were supposedly $0.25 mechs, but I think they are not. The cradle is much to wide, and a quarter slips right through to the return every time. A Canadian Loonie, by contrast, is just slightly too large in diameter for the cradle. I fear they may be set up for a large token or possibly Japanese currency.

Would you happen to have any advice on whether or not I can adjust the coin mech for quarters? Short of replacing or altering the cradle I can’t conceive of any solution myself.

While HAPP Controls is a great supplier, it’s possible that they sent you the wrong coin mechs. If you have tried adjusting them like we show in the video you might contact HAPP to see if they have a solution. You can also take a picture of it and email it to us if you would like us to assist you further.

Thanks for your compliments and let us know if there is anything more we can do to help you in the future.

q-tipJanuary 14, 2011

Hey so I’ve recently started watching all your videos great job and thanks for the info you’ve taught me alot and it’s goin really well for me. Anyways I do have a problem… coin mechs are in perfect working order but are set to free play. How do I remove free play and return to taking quarters? My machine is a 1990 teenage mutant ninja turtles. first machine.. first love lol..

First off, thanks for the encouragement. We’re glad that you have learned a lot from the videos and we hope that you continue to use our website as a learning tool.

Now to your question. Let’s just start off by saying that it’s the board, not the coin mechs, that control the amount of coins that the game requires per play. Coin mechs only determine what type of coin the game takes. With that said, you will need to adjust the dip switches on your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles board to set the game on free play. Check our our post on Adjusting Dip Switch Setting On A Board for more information. According to KLOV, you will need to switch the first four switches to the ON position on your first set of dip switches in order to set it to free play.

We have also featured your question on episode 22 of our Q&A podcast. Please listen to it for more of our thoughts on your question. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.